The Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the University of Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Center in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, New York, have joined efforts for organizing a Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center. Researchers at the three participating institutions have a long-lasting commitment to breast cancer research, demonstrated through pioneer work that has identified critical windows of susceptibility to carcinogenic and environmental exposures. The unique experience of this multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary group will provide a broad and comprehensive armarmentarium encompassing varied populations, clinical and basic sciences, and bioinformatics expertise that will be immediately translated to the population it will serve through carefully orchestrated programs under the guidance of patient advocates. The Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center proposed here will be named Center for the Study of the Environment and Mammary Gland and Development. The Center is organized around two research projects, the Collaborative Project 1 (CP 1) and Collaborative Project 2 (CP 2), and two cores, the Administrative Core and the Community Outreach and Translation Core (COTC). The Administrative Core will serve as a liaison with the Steering Committee of the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Center Consortium, the Breast Cancer and the Environment Task Force and the National Advisory Board. In addition, there will be an Executive Committee, which will be chaired by the Principal Investigator and will be integrated by the Co-Principal Investigators and one Cancer Advocate. The Executive Committee will receive advice from the Internal and the External Advisory Boards. The Executive Committee will meet on regular basis with the Co-PIs and investigators participating in CP 1 and CP 2, as well as with Members of the Administrative Core and the COTC. Consequently, the chain of authority for the Center grant will start from the Principal Investigator who will provide scientific leadership for all aspects of the Center. These lines of authority will not interfere with the internal chain of authority at each one of the participating institutions. The mission of the Center will be accomplished through interactive meetings among the participants of the Center, and other centers participating in this consortium.